Archives - November 2009
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Archives - November 2009 |
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Produced by Mike Liassides
THE PLAY
Period, "a trivial comedy for serious people". Jack and Algy are well-off Victorian rakes trying to keep themselves amused. Jack does so by the excuse of having to rescue his imaginary and wicked brother Ernest from trouble. That gives Jack the opportunity to leave his country home in Hertfordshire - and his ward, Cecily, for whom he has to adopt very strict and upright behaviour - to travel to London and spend some time as the more fun-loving Ernest. Algy does the opposite: he escapes to the country regularly by pretending he has to visit his invalid friend Bunbury, who spends a good deal of time at death's door.
Essentially a decent man, Jack loves Algy's cousin Gwendolen and wishes to marry her. She returns his affections, but only because she believes him to genuinely be named Ernest. Algy, a more mischievous character, discovers Jack's true identity and the existence of Cecily by accident and determines to make use of it. The opportunity presents itself when Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, visit for tea. Jack and Gwendolen become engaged, much to Lady Bracknell's displeasure. On her interrogation of Jack, she discovers he has no idea who his parents were, having been found in a hand-bag at Victoria station, luckily by a wealthy and kindly gentleman who adopted him and named him after a seaside resort in Sussex. As this is a socially-questionable position to be in, Lady Bracknell rejects all possibility of their marrying.
Shortly thereafter, Algy goes Bunburying, as he calls it - and tracks down Jack's true address, where the excessively pretty young Cecily lives with her tutor Miss Prism. Algy immediately falls for Cecily, and has a chance to tell her so when Miss Prism goes off for a walk with her would-be suitor, the Reverend Dr Chasuble. Algy pretends to be Ernest in order to gain admission, only to learn that Cecily is already in love with him, based on all the stories Jack has told her of Ernest's escapades. At the same time, Jack returns from London, having decided to be more honest in future, and announces his brother, poor soul, has died in Paris. He is not at all pleased to discover "his brother" has actually come to visit for the week.
To complicate things, Gwendolen also comes to visit, and meets up with Cecily. Both women are under the impression that they are engaged to Ernest, which leads to some confusion and hostility - until they discover that neither man is in fact Ernest, but both are accomplished liars. Apologies are offered and both men's willingness to be christened as Ernest goes a long way towards sorting that out - until Lady Bracknell arrives. She is displeased to learn of Algy's engagement, but relents on discovering how wealthy Cecily will be. Jack, though, refuses permission for her marriage unless he is allowed to marry Gwendolen. As Cecily will not be legally of age to inherit until she is thirty-five, that leaves an impasse. Just as Lady Bracknell is about to leave in disgust, she learns of Miss Prism's presence.
Miss Prism, it transpires, misplaced Lady Bracknell's late sister's child many years earlier - leaving the babe, accidentally, in a hand-bag at Victoria station! Which makes Jack Algy's brother and Lady Bracknell's nephew. Even more fortuitously, it turns out he was originally christened Ernest. And so, with everybody happy about everything, the story ends.
FROM THE GROUP
This play, it is fair to say, had a lot of expectation riding on it. For one thing, it was one various members had wanted to do since before the group was even formed; for another, it was to mark the 25th anniversary of the group and, for a third, it wasn't really on the agenda to begin with.
The reason we had never attempted it in the past was the setting. As written, it requires a house interior, a garden and a different house interior: simply not feasible on the stage we have. It was often discussed as a wistful possibility, then dismissed as unworkable. I'd never even read it, until this year, and then only as a theoretical exercise to see if there was any way of getting around that problem. Surprisingly, there was: it seemed that the third act could be moved into the garden, leaving the technical but achievable challenge of just one complete set change.
Somewhere along the line, though, the theoretical question of whether it was possible to stage it rather evolved into the groundwork for an actual production. It seemed like a reasonable choice, and a popular one, so we went with the momentum and I ended up at the helm. All good fun, apart from the casting where, for the first time in many years, it was sadly necessary to disappoint some people who really wanted a part.
The set design called for a removable backdrop, which we purchased from the excellent Pyramid Visuals (at no small cost), and a number of specially-built pieces, which I left in Pete's entirely capable hands (at a remarkably low cost!). Costumes and wigs - and there were many - were a bit of a nightmare. Fortunately, several people stepped in to create their own and the rest were hired. I'm still not quite sure how it all got organised, but everything looked very beautiful and authentic on the nights, thanks to the efforts of Linda, Ann, Clare, Mary and Carol (and possibly others as well)! Furnishings were mostly dealt with by transplanting the contents of Ann's garden on to the stage, and by Sam's excellent work at borrowing things from local garden centres. Martin made all the food, and Zahir had to eat pretty much all of it...
I'd normally like to have more of a handle on how the technical side of things is developing, but there wasn't much time for that. It's a long, wordy play that is so well-known it has to be delivered accurately; and, at the same time, there is a good deal of activity to be managed. It needs a certain rhythm and flow to work properly, so I concentrated on trying to get those right, with the constant assistance of Clare M at prompt.
And then, suddenly, we were there in production week and it all had to be ready.
Luckily, it was...
It is true that all of the backstage and technical activities have to be spot on, and those who work on that set of tasks are critical to the success of any production. It is also true that much of what they do is invisible to the audience and only noticed if it goes wrong! Nothing did, and a gloriously effective staging was the result. On the nights, though, it is the cast who make the show happen - I believe it is a good moment to quite my final production diary entry:
The young (as scripted, anyway!) couples swapped seamlessly between their different relationships: Jack and Algy's good-natured, frivolous sparring, Gwendolen and Cecily's sweetly biting rivalry; then Jack and Gwendolen's quiet and formal devotion to each other beside Algy and Cecily's rather more impulsive, unconventional romance. Great work by all concerned - Gareth, Zahir, Clare and Carol - not just on an individual level but as couples and all together. Miss Prism and Dr Chasuble contributed their own perfectly refined and intellectual flirtations, with an undercurrent of passion finally let loose, parts evidently relished by Mary and Dave. Our new members, Martin and Nick, playing the servants Merriman and Lane, behaved with impeccable manners and an excellently-conveyed degree of wry cynicism. And through it all swept Lady Bracknell, as the magnificently stentorian hub around whom everything has to revolve. It is a fantastic part, as written, and was delivered as a tour de force on the nights by Ann, making the absolute most of fulfilling a very long-held ambition.
For me, a production that not only met but far exceeded expectation.
Excellent, and thanks to all involved.
Mike - Producer
Gareth - Actor
"The Importance of Being Earnest" has always been one
of my favourite plays. Whether it is reading the play or watching the old or new
movies I always enjoy the experience. This Cissbury Players production was no
different with me tittering to myself all the way through the production. It is
such an amusing trivial play and all the actors did a superb job in making me
giggle.
As prompt for the production I was a little bored as the actors did very well in
knowing all their lines. With such a wordy play, their hard work is commendable.
I did not however drift off in the corner as the action kept me captivated, even
after seeing it over a dozen times.
The stage set was beautiful, especially the stunning backdrop of the garden
scene and the costumes were perfectly lovely. It was obvious to us all that a
lot of hard work had been put into, not only the play itself, but also the
visual aspect of the production.
I thought all the actors did very well complementing each other in every scene.
Even the butlers had well thought out personalities that were executed
brilliantly.
My only regret was that I was not able to act in such a wonderful period piece,
I cross my fingers that there are more to come.
Clare-Louise - Prompt
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 Set Build & Technical |
 Dress Rehearsal and Story |
PREVIEWS & REVIEWS
Preview from the Worthing Herald, 12th November
PRODUCER'S CARD
Signed by cast and crew
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